Buckinghamshire covers about 730 square miles. The county town is the market town of Aylesbury in the south. People born in Aylesbury are popularly known as 'Aylesbury Ducks' referring to the breed of white duck native to the area. The county has many hidden villages, friendly rural pubs, thatched cottages and gentle country walks plus historic houses and museums. There are many small market towns to explore with a multitude of antique shops. Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes was the British Military Intelligence headquarters during the Second World War and still contains some of the top secret equipment used to crack enemy codes. A number of famous people live or lived in Buckinghamshire such as John Milton, the author of Paradise Lost, who lived in a cottage in Chalfont St Giles in the east of Buckinghamshire. The 19th-century prime minister Benjamin Disraeli grew up at Bradenham Manor and later bought Hughenden Manor near High Wycombe, where he lived until his death.
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